The Waterford Speedbowl’s banquet celebrating the end of the 2013 season will be held tonight.

But is it also the final banquet for the track?

According to William McCoy from the law firm of Heller, Heller and McCoy in Uncasville, a date will likely be set for the foreclosure sale of the track in a court proceeding beginning at 2 p.m. on Monday in New London Superior Court.

Eames still owes Arbitell and Borelli $1,090,000 from that deal, a sum that will be recouped from the sale of the land that the track sits on unless Eames and his 1080 Hartford Road LLC group can come up with the funding to stop it.

Additional debt

In addition to the money owed to Arbitell and Borelli, McCoy said Eames owes smaller creditors nearly another million dollars. The court has estimated the land that the Speedbowl occupies to be worth $3,075,000. According to Arbitell, Eames approached him recently with a plan that will keep Eames at the helm of the track through the upcoming season with the foreclosure sale pushed back to October.

But Arbitell said he is not in favor of that plan and would rather see the earlier date, April 12 according to McCoy, be enforced on Monday.

“I don’t know if it’s a big concern as to whether the facility is operating as a race track or not,” said McCoy. “There’s a limited market for those interested in buying small stock car facilities in New England. We believe the primary value of the land is that it is commercial and we’re seeking the earliest possible date (for the sale).”

McCoy said the only way he sees the track continuing to operate as a race facility this season is if someone comes to the table and convinces the judge that it makes more economic sense to do so rather than selling the property.

If the decision is made in favor of the Speedbowl operating, McCoy said Arbitell and Borelli would like to see a court-appointed receiver placed in charge of the facility.

“We would like to see a receiver put in place to assure the payment of bills,” McCoy said. “We want to see someone operate it in a reasonable fashion so people will get paid and it won’t be only for personal gain.”

Looking grim

Part of the deal forged with Arbitell and Borelli in 2007 called for Eames to keep current on the property taxes, something that then track operator Jerry Robinson did not do. When that failed to happen in 2008, Arbitell and Borelli began a foreclosure action. Eames sought and received bankruptcy protection in October 2009, but when the track emerged from that plan, Arbitell and Borelli again began foreclosure procedures last March.

Page 2 of 2 - Arbitell said on Thursday that he still wants to see racing continue at the Speedbowl and he still believes Eames may find a solution.

“We’re continuing efforts to put new financing in place and we’re confident that we will operate this season,” Eames said.

As it is, there are problems that have to be addressed prior to the first race of the season, according to Arbitell. Tops on that list is the grandstands, many of which were unusable by the end of the 2013 season.

“There’s lots of things to do to get things going again,” Arbitell said.